• by Larissa Faw , March 3, 2020

Coronavirus fears are causing The One Club for Creativity to switch from its traditional in-person to online judging for its two global award  shows, The One Show and ADC 99th Annual Awards.

Depending on how the global outbreak progresses, The One Club is also considering potential changes to this year’s Creative Week in May, when The One Show 2020, ADC 99th Annual Awards and Young Ones Student Awards (which are judged online) gala ceremonies are held in various New York venues.

“We could have replaced non-U.S. jury members with creatives based here, but that’s not who we are,” said Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club.  “It’s imperative that we maintain the same global integrity and quality to the judging process.” 

Creatives from 38 countries were set to serve on juries for the two shows starting next week in New York, followed by two weeks in San Juan, Puerto Rico and a fourth week in New York. (Four ADC disciplines will continue to be held in person at The One Club gallery space since their respective juries are largely made up of U.S.- and Canada-based talent.)

Fortuitously, the organization says it is well prepared to facilitate expanded online judging, since early rounds of entries submitted throughout the year in The One Show’s quarterly entry system are already judged on an existing digital platform. This expanded online judging will happen this year only, with in-person judging resuming next year. 

All jury members will be invited to return as in-person judges for next year’s shows.

These proactive changes come in light of the announcement Cannes continues to move forward with its schedule. 

“Unlike Cannes, which is a for-profit business that has to answer to shareholders and generates most of its revenue from its festival, The One Club is a non-profit organization that produces many initiatives throughout the year and does not depend solely on its awards festival,” explains Swanepoel. “Our top priority is the well-being of the creative community.  Should we need to, we have the option of not holding a global gathering of creatives at our festival and putting them potentially at risk because our decision about Creative Week is not based on revenue,” he stated.

He adds further changes may be forthcoming. The club is also discussing possible alternative ways to announce this year’s Pencil and Cube winners to the global creative community.